Toccoa, Ga., October 1959October 1959

On the night of October 26, 1959, a block of ice weighing 40 to 50 pounds fell from a clear sky onto a farm near Toccoa, Georgia. The ice made a loud whistling sound as it fell, similar to the noise of a jet airplane passing overhead. A local radio station in Toccoa received the report and passed the information along to nearby Donaldson Air Force Base.

The Air Force took the report seriously enough to have the ice analyzed. Samples were sent to two high school laboratories in the area, where technicians examined the frozen block. The initial analysis suggested the ice was highly radioactive, based on exposed photographic film that showed radiation damage when developed. However, this claim turned out to be incorrect. The ice was also analyzed by the Army's Ice, Snow and Permafrost Research Laboratory in Evanston, Illinois, which determined that the ice was artificial rather than natural. The laboratory noted that the ice lacked the characteristic crystal patterns of hail.

Investigators from multiple federal agencies eventually became involved, including the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Bureau of Standards, and the U.S. Weather Bureau. After months of study, these agencies concluded that the ice had formed when drinking water leaked from a commercial DC-8 jet airplane flying at 35,000 feet. The water froze outside the aircraft as it flew through the cold upper atmosphere and then fell to the ground when the plane descended. A similar incident had occurred about two years earlier in New Jersey, and officials noted that ice falling from aircraft had been documented in six other cases, with chunks ranging from 25 to 100 pounds.

The full case file, comprising 9 pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.